Random Smallville Episode - Infamous

Next up for the month is a return to Smallville. Since I got a bit of a motif this month with the whole “identity revealed” trope, I thought I would find one of those. Quite a few folk knew Clark’s identity on Smallville especially by the 8th season. At this point, the show had two hurdles they had to overcome: the departure of important actors (Michael Rosembaum and Kristen Kreuk) and the executive producers (Miles Millar and Alfred Gough). Still, I thought they were able to overcome them both. Season 8 is fine, but a bit rocky in places especially towards the end. Clark’s finally at the Daily Planet, he’s being more active in the superhero business, and he’s getting closer to Lois. Add the fact that Smallville starts to add more comic lore to the show, and you get a decent season.

Where we’re at during this point isn’t its best time though. At this point, we just got off a five-episode run where Kristen Kreuk returned to the role of Lana Lang. Also add the first appearance of Doomsday, the Legion of Superheroes, some J’onn Jones action, the death of Lex Luthor, and the horrible end of “Clana” in two of the worst episodes of the series (“Power” and “Requiem”). That run was a mixed bag and what we got would be a bit of a mix too. Tonight’s episode is “Infamous”, and it features the return of Erica Durance (was notably absent during the Lana episodes) and Tori Spelling as annoying gossiper Linda Lake.

The episode starts out with Lois scolding Clark for being 3 hours late in picking her up from the airport. After she heads off, Linda Lake appears to Clark (think Hydro Man being the power set) and asks him to make her a star by letting her out him to the public as the Red-Blue Blur. He refuses, and Linda blackmails him on this juicy story she’s written. Later, Clark talks to Chloe about his options, and after a lot of thinking, he’s going to beat Linda to the punch by revealing himself to the public. Chloe’s worried that this may not work out, but Clark’s determined to do this.

From where did she pull that paper from? 

Clark heads to the Planet and tells Lois his secret. It’s touch and go at first, but he shows her what he can do, and he asks Lois to print the story. The next day, the Daily Planet prints the story, and Clark is seen as a hero for the first time. Everyone is fawning over him. Meanwhile, Chloe deals with some fallout with Davis Bloome (Doomsday for those who don’t know) about what happened a few episodes ago. When he finds out that Clark is a Kryptonian, this sets Davis off. Meanwhile, Linda Lake decides to get some revenge by releasing a scandalous article about Clark being the vanguard of an invasion and killing Lex Luthor (he died in “Requiem”).

Things start to go bad for Clark when this article hits the waves. The government starts to come after anyone who has had contact with Clark. With the house, the Daily Planet under surveillance, Clark realizes that the only way to undo this would be to use the Legion Ring the LOSH gave him a few episodes back. He saves Lois from some operatives and tells her about what he plans to do. He tries to use it, but Linda stops them both. Meanwhile, Chloe finds out about Davis being Doomsday and is on the verge of being killed. Luckily, with Lois’s help, Clark uses the ring and goes back in time to before the events of the episode.

A nice moment for those two.

In the end, we start over from the beginning. Clark actually picks up Lois on time and may even get to talk to her more about a kiss they shared. He also stops Linda in a way that nullifies her powers. The day is saved, but Clark’s experience leaves him to basically keep Lois at arms’ length. They were supposed to talk about what their kiss meant, but Clark ducks out, leaving Lois disappointed. Meanwhile, Linda (being kept under watch at Metropolis’s hospital) summons Davis to her room. It turns out she knows about him being Doomsday, so Davis kills her. Somehow, this release of rage is able to keep his other side at bay.

This is a fine episode but not one of the best from this season. First off, it was nice to see what could happen if Clark just let all of his secrets out to the public. He gets a taste of what his life could eventually be like, but he also gets the darker side of that fame. His friends and loved ones get put in danger, and people know how to hurt him. This also puts a bit of a damper on the budding Clark/Lois relationship, though the POS known as “Requiem” kinda helped in that too. Man, I hate parts of that episode.

Davis Bloome: the true hero of the story. Seriously, he got rid of Linda Lake!

I did like that the episode showed that Lois would’ve been good with the secret. Too bad it took Clark a while to figure that out, but the guy was going through it at this point. It was also nice to see Davis get to blow off some steam at the end. While the Doomsday plot of season 8 wasn’t that good, Sam Witwer at least made a good watch. Also, kudos to Smallville for trying to do a little more with Doomsday.

It would be a while longer before we got these two together.

Then, there’s the bad. First, Linda Lake is a crappy character.  She’s basically the villain version of Cat Grant. It doesn’t help that Tori Spelling decided to go too far into camp with this one. I also felt that Clark’s plot was pretty rushed over. It would’ve been nice get more of this in the episode, but the other plots got in the way. That was one small issue I had with some of Smallville’s later stuff. There was sometimes too much stuff going on. Also, the stuff involving Chloe and Davis was “meh.” Unfortunately, it only got worse from here on that front.

Other than my problems, this was a fine episode. It took a common trope and tried its best with it. Well, I guess all this has made me ready to talk about the thing that killed the New 52 Superman. No, it wasn’t the combination  overexposure to Kryptonite, the core of Apokalips, and whatever Bryan Hitch did that done it. It was “Truth” or something like that. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

Also, don’t tell everybody your secrets. At least the public didn’t find out about how Clark and Lana caused an earthquake… yeah, I’ll shut up now.